Ricky has removed rod of iron

RICKY Sbragia believes he has swept Roy Keane’s fear factor out of Sunderland.

PUBLISHED: 00:00, Tue, Mar 3, 2009

SBRAGIA: Big contrast to Keane

Manager Sbragia has the team playing with a smile on their faces again – in stark contrast to Keane’s disciplinarian approach.

Sunderland’s squad love the new manager’s laid-back approach and have responded with eight points from their last four unbeaten games to lift them clear of the drop-zone.

Sunderland travel to Anfield tonight looking to hammer a final nail in Liverpool’s title hopes, and Sbragia said: “Sometimes with a change of manager you have different ideas and the players buy into it. The players should have no fear and I hope they are more relaxed.

“Most managers would be out of the dugout slaughtering a player for a bad pass, not just Roy. But I want them to go out and play without this fear of me being down their necks. I’m completely different to Roy, maybe I’m a bit boring.”

Sbragia is keen to make the Sunderland training ground a happy workplace, something made difficult by Keane’s brooding presence during his two years at the helm.

“If players don’t enjoy training then you don’t get the best out of them,” said Sbragia. “The players seem to enjoy it and we’re getting 10 per cent more from them.

“Managers work in different ways and whether this way works only time will tell, but this is how I want it to be.

“I want them to come in and enjoy training and if I get that I know for a fact I’ll get good performances from them.

The players should have no fear at all. Energy-wise we look good and we can get about the pitch now.”

Sbragia maintains, though, that he is not a soft touch, and isn’t afraid to have a go if any of his players aren’t pulling their weight.

He said: “I won’t chew a player’s head off from the sideline. I’ll hold back in the dressing room if I want to have a go at someone. I might have a go at them afterwards in private because I need the players to play for me.

“I might pull them to one side, but I don’t like to show them up in front of others and lose their respect. That’s the way I work, and I won’t change.”

Crocked strike duo Djibril Cisse and Kenwyne Jones are set to recover in time to start at Anfield, with Sbragia ready to wrap Jones in cotton wool to get the £6million Trinidad & Tobago star through the rest of the season.

He added: “Djibril’s trained for the last five days and looks OK. We’re working Kenwyne less than the others because he was out for so long earlier in the season.

“We have to cut his training and take him out of it early because we can see it’s enough for him. He still has to do rehab work on his knee.

“We want him to play every game we have left, so we have to sacrifice the training. He’s not happy when he’s not involved but he sees the bigger picture.

We need him available until the end of the season.”

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